


Tales of Magic and Mystery

by Dalissy



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: AUs, Casino!AU, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Light Angst, Romance, alternative universes, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-02-04 19:46:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18611275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dalissy/pseuds/Dalissy
Summary: Being in love with a friend is complicated, furthermore if that friend is the daughter of the inspector who wants nothing more in the world but to see you behind bars, the unknown rival of a naughty witch and the best trick a pretentious detective has to play with you!Yet neither it is easy being in love with the most perverted man and the silliest and somehow coolest magician in training...Bunch of my unfinished KaiAo/AoKai one-shots with lots of AUs.





	1. Casino!AU: Bunny Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> This AU was inspired by a fanart by momomo (Japanese artist on Pixiv & Twitter)  
> Also, I know that casinos aren't allowed in Japan -but let's say it's an illegal casino or simply a Japan AU where it is allowed lol.  
> Basically the same as in the serie except Kaito and Aoko are older and they knew each other not as childhood friends but colleagues in the Casino.

Kaito loved magic more than anything in the entire world. Yet, the entire world didn't love it as much.

It did not matter that he was the son of the greatest magician of Japan -no, the greatest magician of the world. Neither of that made any difference. Magic didn't please as much as it used to. Now, people were only obsessed with piercing the mystery of the trick.   
Very few enjoyed it for what it really was: to make the unbelievable believable. Despite that, everyone was too attached to the boring reality, and no one could admit that, yes, the bunny may truly have disappeared.

Actually, people were now mocked for loving magic. They were thought as fools and easy persons to trick, since they paid someone to show them something unreal.   
And so, the 'evil' magicians were defined as robber and thieves (well, in  _his_  case, this wasn't too wrong) for making fun of such naive people.

Because of all that, when he started performing, his shows were quite unpopular despite their great quality. To add to that, some people refused to see magic showdowns because of the Phantom Thief, KID. To them, it was like supporting crime in a sort of way -and, on the contrary, a lot of KID's fans said they loved magic, but also that they would rather watch KID's tricks on TV for free than pay to watch some stranger, unknown magician do it lamely.

"I can't believe I made shadowing to myself", he always thought in return, amused and yet kind of annoyed.

His mother never stopped telling him he should just give up on Japan and go performing in Las Vegas, not only because they could be together but also because the money would instantly flow.  
"I told you for hundreds of times, mom" he mutely repeated on the phone while Chikage was blabbering about it again. "I won't leave Japan until I find Pandora and avenge dad. There's no way I've done all of this just to give up so close!"  
"Oh, I know sweetie how important it is for you -it is for me too... But I think your father wouldn't have wished for you to lose such a big part of your youth just trying to avenge him. It's already been years..."  
"It's not only about avenging dad. It's about destroying the Organisation that tore other families apart and hurt people."

The solemnity he declaimed -and yet whispered- these words with created a small, awkward silence on the line. Then Chikage busted out laughing.  
"Oh my, you sound so serious! Just like a grown-up hero!"  
"I am a grown-up!" he replied, embarrassed. "I'm turning twenty-three this summer!"  
"Oh, really?"

He was sure she would say it as joyfully as ever, however she sounded melancholic about it. He frowned his eyebrows. She did not forget his birthday, did she?  
"Mom?"  
"Oh, sorry, it just makes me feel so weird knowing my baby boy is an adult now... That and the fact I am turning old."  
"Well somehow the last one seems to shock you more than the other. Anyway mom, I should get going. See you later."  
"Wait, Kaito!"

Now panick filled her voice. How could this woman change both her voice and emotions so easily and fast? She could laugh and cry in the same sentence. How could his father even handle her back then?  
"Are you sure..." she continued "...really sure you don't want to come to Las Vegas?"  
"Mom, I told you, I still have things to accomplish here. And..."

He looked through the window of the subway. The city of Tokyo stretched infinitely all the way of his vision field, high buildings blooming as iron flowers into the surprising blue sky for such a polluted place. An incredible number of people he could not even imagine were crossing the enormous streets, cars were driven into the non-existent horizon of the city. Multiple and pastel colours filled the ads on the buildings.

It was nothing but a strange ant-hill that captivated him in a way or another -yet he couldn't discern anyone precisely in it. He gulped, starring at this monstrous, endless, yet so empty infinity.  
"I feel like", he added without turning away his stare, "I must stay in Japan, for some reason."

Despite the gigantic amount of money his father left behind, Kaito could not stand the idea to stay at home and wait for nothing but the night to come, both for his shows and KID's heists, since he was no longer a student. Otherwise he would go crazy with boredom- he had friends of course, but he could not just stick up with them all day long. They had a life of their own, evolving while he felt terrible at his own routine.  
It turned out as an evidence: he had to find a job.

His assistant Jii once offered him to work in his bar, the  _Blue Parrot_ , but he immediately declined the old man's offer.  
"You barely even gain a living between the short money the bar makes and the spendings on KID's gadgets", he reminded him. "If you had to pay me too, you wouldn't bear it, Jii. You are already doing too much for me. And I need to wide up my senses. I can't continue to do the same things forever."  
"Young master", then interrupted Jii with energy, "I assure you it doesn't bother me!"  
"Don't sweat it", laughed Kaito with a wink. "I'll get a job in no time, you won't even notice!"

Indeed, it was in no time. Only some days after, he got a job as a dealer in a very popular Casino. It was quite a surprise, yet somehow, it fitted him perfectly. He shuffled the cards like nobody, his charisma alone, when he was wearing his poker face, made people want to rebet their money, and he was good company. He even got to work his magic tricks sometimes: he became an attraction of some sort, and he gained popularity as a magician. Nothing but benefits. Everybody liked him!  
Or at least, almost everyone.

"So, how is your buisiness going?"  
This simple phrase that any business man would to another he heard somehow drew his attention. While he was throwing some cards, he did the same with his glare at the two men aside talking. Their faces were shadowed by their hat.

"That is very confidential", answered the other in a whisper. "But I only tell you that as a friend: I am going to receive  _The Goddess Punishment_ , a very precious sapphire for my sister's wedding. My step-mother keeps getting mad about such purchases, but as my sister's a model, just a few shoots of her wearing it will make the copies selling explode. I can't wait to have it in my hands."  
"How come it is confidential? Shouldn't you start promoting the news right now?"  
"Idiot! If I did that, it is like offering it to Kaitou KID on a silver plate!"

_Well_ , thought Kaito as he couldn't stop smiling,  _you'd better do that, since how popular I am, the copies would sell way better than with just your model sister._

The two men then switched the conversation about the marriage. Kaito had to copy the information to make sure he would not forget it despite his incredible memory -never too careful, uh? He would make research on it. Maybe this could be Pandora.  
How could they be so stupid to let go such precious words in public places, anyway?   
"Ladies and Gentlemen", he announced with a magnificent and pleased smile, "I am afraid it is time for my break. Please continue with my colleagues."

While the audience sighed in disappointment, he fled to the entry of the Casino. One of his superiors at the reception was about to ask him what he was doing, but he stopped him while drawing out his smartphone.  
"Give me five minutes and I'm back. This is an emergency."

The man kept his mouth shut. Kaito was doing a great job ninety percent of the time, so for once he would be okay. This seemed really like an important thing -but it was just that Kaito was also a good actor. He noted every single word of the two men that seemed important at the speed of light and texted Jii to make some research about this  _'Goddess Punishment_ ' -such a strange name.

He tried to focus as much as he could, begging his brain cells to remember every single detail that could be essential. Yet... his eyes and attention were heading somewhere way else that what it was supposed to be.  
Feminine giggles ringed in his ear like mermaid calls, since what he had in front of him was a mermaid valley. Or more likely a bunny valley.

Next to the game rooms of the Casino was the bar, which was nothing more or less than a bunny café -just more sophisticated. Everywhere, young women in tiny suits and bunny ears, generous breasts, waged their cute bumpy tails to serve the customers. Mostly aged men, of course.

They all had, both men and women, an enormous smile on their face, as if they found the source of eternal youth and happiness when they enjoyed nothing but superficial matters : beautiful and rich place, cute girls whose sights make your heart race with adoration and lust, gorgeous food and fine wine which makes you stay up until the end of the night.   
But it would have been a lie to say Kaito didn't enjoy the sight too. All of this may have been fake, so what? It was a happy, out of time and struggles place. Joyful. Cheers. There wasn't misery, neither sadness.

Somehow, drunk in this illusion -what a paradox for a magician! - Kaito wished he could stay forever in this atmosphere where nobody could be sad. No cries, no tragedies. Just happiness. Happiness. Happiness. Forever and for everyone.

Well, almost for everyone. If this little bunny girl would have decided to smile, it would be everyone, and yet, the young girl left nothing over her face other than a sulking, tired expression.

Kaito sighed at the sight of it. Aoko, 'Blue Child', was quite an appropriate name for her actually -she felt like nothing but pure blue sadness.

To be honest, how the girl got the job still was a mystery to him. Even without noticing her flat chest that couldn't fill her costume, this girl was just so gloomy, she felt out of place and looked like she could flush down all the excitement of the Casino with her stare only. She served the cocktails, shared a few sentences with the customers, and that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. However, after what some of his colleagues had said, she, sometimes, extremely rarely times, as if she remembered she was in a place of joy, she bursted in an enormous smile, filled with childish but contagious energy, giggled like the cutest kid that could ever be.   
But it was a rare occasion he never had the chance to see. It was obvious that she did not like her job. 

_What a waste_ , he thought. He would never say it to her face -if anyone asked him, he would say she was lower average-, of course, but she appeared cute to him. Actually way cuter than any other bunny girl, with her gorgeous eyes full of sapphire shards that could freeze you in an instant, her long brown hair with caramel reflections that bounced around her shoulders, her cute sculpted nose and white snow lips and silky skin and her tiny wrists and feet and hands and -was it him or was it hot in here?

_Oooh, but what do we have here?  
_The most narrow-minded eyes and smile illuminated his face.

"Hey, Aoko", he called quite loudly -loudly enough to make all heads turn at him. "So, we are having white tonight, eh?"  
"What do you mean?" she answered, pressing her plate against her non-existent breasts and looking at her black bunny costume.

He whistled in an admirative way, just like he was some pervert wolf from a Texas Avery Cartoon, turned around and wiped his back-pocket while glancing sensually at her. It didn't take long for Aoko to look at her own  _derriere_ and see what she wished she could have continued ignoring.

She let out a tiny scream trying to cover her white panty showing out of her black bunny outfit; and the only response she got from every customer in the bar was laughters, as they thought it was an organized little animation made to distract them.  
Good Lord, she suddenly seemed way too red to be called Aoko anymore.

"Kaito-! You!" she growled out, louder and louder while the palms and knuckles of her hands were whitening due to the pressure she inflated to the poor innocent plate.  
"Just wanted to help you out", he whispered before disappearing out of sight.  
"Like I'd let get away with it! Get back here you idiot!"

That's how another chase began.  
She was not smiling -but at least she was not sad anymore, shouting at him and purchasing him. That was more than he could hope for.

 


	2. Born to blossom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoko finds herself weeping for what could possibly be one of the worst day of her life. But at night appears the one she expected the less to come comfort her...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on a prompt in which Aoko gets rejected by Kaito (bc he wants to end it with Pandora and Kid before accepting her feelings) and *eventually* falls in love with Kid instead.

Tears cold as ice rolled down her cheeks, painfully irrigated by her fierce hot blood. Wind swirled around her, infiltrating her poorly covered skin and rolling her in a transparent blanket at the same time. The people passing near by, the eternal city's lights and sounds were assaulting her eyes and ears. She ignored it all.

_I'm sorry, Aoko. But..._

"Don't say it", she begged, bitting her lip as the memory appeared again in her confused brain. "Please, don't say it."

_I can't answer..._

Her knees against her chest, like a wall against the entire world. The fabric of her skirt in her clenched fist, tighting it up with such strenght it was about to be torn apart.

 _...To your feelings_.

An ugly cry came out of her throat.

It was not fair. But it was not like it had ever been in the first place.

In front of the big clock, her body as tiny as an ant compared to it, Aoko was weeping. She did not want to cry. Did it really deserve her tears? It wouldn't change anything anyway, no matter how many of them were falling to the cold ground, on this lonely night.

She had always been afraid to be alone, especially in the dark -even though this last part was more a childish fear than rationnal issue. But something was scarier than this.

She could not remember how she got here. She could only remember Kaito's rejection and sorrowful expression, on the path home.

Did she run away, naturally followed the way to come back to the place they met as if it would rewind time? Was she so desperate not to see him anymore, she refused to go home? She could not tell.

She merely had her school uniform on her. No bag. No phone. Not even a single yen.

Even if she wanted, she could not go home. Her father would worry sick... if only he knew.

"Ah, who am I kidding?" She bitterly laughed, desperatly trying to wipe her non-stopping tears. "Tonight's Kid's heist... Dad's too busy to worry... about m...me..."

She wanted to laugh. It only hurt her already painful heart more. She buried her face into her knees.

Disappear. Disappear. She only wanted to disappear from this world where she failed her best friend, trying to confess childish feelings before their paths would definitely separate after their last year of high school, where her parents were stolen from her, one by a job where everyone made fun of him despite his restless efforts, another by unfair destiny. Where the man she hated the most in the universe was loved by the entire population.

"Vanish", she wished to herself as she tapped upon her cheeks. "Vanish! Nobody will miss you, anyway...!"

"I'd gladly grant this wish, Miss; but a true magician cannot make such a sad will come true."

Her heart jumped, her eyes widened as this one last man, this one whom she thought the less to be here at such a moment, was looking down at her with a smirk.

"Kid!..."

She gasped, unable to even make an intelligible answer at first. On the other hand, he leaned down to her in his usual perfect white suit, presenting her a colourful handkerchief close to her face.

"Tears do not match your face."

He was about to wipe out her drenched cheeks, when she instantely slapped his hand and jumped upon her two legs.

"Don't touch me! EVERYONE! HE'S HERE!" she screamed. "THE REAL KID'S HERE!"

She expected the near crowd to run to her, making her able to find a phone and call the police ; but her yell met nothing but silence and emptiness.

"...Eh?"

No one. There was no one anymore. The street was desertic. The people. The lights. The sounds.

Everything had disappeared. Only the faint noise of the wind remained.

"...How..."

"You wanted to disappear from this world." Kid calmly smiled. "But I couldn't answer to your wish; and when confronted to a problem, turn it upside down..."

"...You made the world disappear?"

If she could see his eyes underneath his hat and monocle, she would undeniably see a malicious glimmering in them while he nodded.

"That's not-"

"Possible? Nothing's impossible to me. I thought you'd come to notice it, being the inspector's daughter..."

She frowned. Wouldn't he be toying with her for no reason?

"What do you want? You should be at your heist. If this is about the time we got trapped together... I don't really consider I own you anything."  
"Even though I saved you? Twice?"

The images of him grasping her so she wouldn't get impaled by the trap's 'punishment', and sweating while she realized he projected himself on the broken glass instead of her, flashed through her mind. She was, of course, grateful for that. But they'd never had gotten into such a situation if he never stole in the first place.

"I did not ask you to do so." She protested, her hands firmly on her hips despite tears still running down her face.

A slight silence infiltrated the air. Aoko wished she could ignore him, escape him, go home. But if she did, he would see how trembling her whole body was -and it was a sign of weakness she did not want to show to this man.

He eventually laughed, his lips twisting in a way... so familiar.  
"Is this because your phone recorded when I said I had to strip you down to exchange our clothes?"

Her eyes opened widely. No, he could not!... Her father took immediatly her phone afterward as a proof object, and he promised they would go over that-

"You are horrible! Pervert!"  
"It was a necessary sacrifice I was willing to make", he smirked very proudly. "And you are right, you don't own me anything. I, myself, have no regrets about acting as I did."

She frowned. Which part of it was a 'sacrifice'? Was it a way to say he didn't enjoy the view?

"You're still a jerk."  
She did not say it with as much conviction as she wished she did.

"How cold-hearted, Miss."

"Whatever! Just answer me! What are you here for?! What are your reasons?!"

"Is there to be a reason?"

"Uh?..."

He dreamly glanced at the shining stars upon them, his hands in his pockets.

"I am the only man left in your life, after all. You lost your best friend -or at least you think so- with whom you shared friendship and romantic love. You lost your father -because of me, I won't lie- with whom you shared family love. There's only me left. The man you hate the most passionnatly."

She did not know what to answer. Her wrath lightly faded away. She did not even hate him that much. She did not like him, either. He just was... an anomally she wished could be gone of her life.

"...That doesn't make any sense."  
A frank laugh got out of his throat again. "Feelings aren't supposed to always make sense. I think magic works that way, too. The heart has reasons which reason knows nothing of... Pascal, was it?"

Did he seriously thought he could impress her with that?  
"He wasn't talking about human feelings in this extract", she firmly protested. "It was about the relationship mankind has with God."

"Just because a sentence was used in a specific context doesn't mean it cannot be applied in another if done right: isn't all what double-meaning and interpretation is about? Without that, I couldn't write my dear riddle cards... and 'I don't hate you' wouldn't mean 'I love you' any longer in love declaration. Isn't that right, miss Nakamori?"

She caught a bright blue glitter in his eyes who pierced through her. If only she could read into her own heart as much as he did. It was... frustrating. How could he know all of that about her, anyway? They barely talked for the few times they met. Then how come he knew exactly what was wrong?

"I should not love Kaito. I know I shouldn't" she admitted. "For my own sake. I mean, I am an ugly, flat-chested girl... just as he says. I am no match to anyone. I knew he'd reject me. I know he would. And yet... I still tried... And I... I..."

She felt liquid pearls form in her eyes again, her throat twitching at the truth she was about to tell. As useful as trying to extinguish an eternal fire.

"I ruined everything! I lost everything! Now, he will go away after we graduate... And we'll lose contact, because it'd be too awkward to talk afterward... and... a-and... I'll regret it all my damn life..."

Her nails gripped her filthy uniform as she tried to not scream -she did not care about damaging it anymore. Anytime soon, it would end up in the attic, along with her high-school life memories... and the one she made with Kaito's her whole life.

It was hurting. Hurting. Hurting. She had lost many friends between middle and high school -distance knew very well how to torn apart many friendships. But she never thought it would happen with Kaito. It wasn't even imaginable.

When they will turn into adult... before, she thought it would change nothing. Time would be nothing. They'd still be the goofies they always have been. They would always tease one another until one cracks. They would eat ice creams. He would offer her blue roses she always wondered where he kept. They would always eat at her house -and from time to time he'd have the horrible surprise to have fish for dinner. Forever and ever.

But everything changed, because of her stupid actions. Just because she told herself she wasn't willing to keep this a secret anymore. Because she wanted to be 'more than friends'.   
...What a stupid expression. She wanted them to become  _lovers_. This was the real, actual word.   
Was it anything more than a teenager curiosity? Would it have bloomed into true love you see in the movies? Ridiculous.

It is not like it mattered in anyway now. Everything was ruined.   
If only the clock they were under could rewind time just a little, little earlier...

She suddenly felt something soft caressing her head. She lifted her eyes -only to see Kid patting her.  
She was about to burst out in rage for a second, thinking he was mocking her -nevertheless, soon his pat became a sweet caress of his glove on her wet cheek, as soft as the feathers of a dove.

"You should not give so much credits on a man's thought, miss. Boys, exceptionnally at that age, often say things they do not mean. Furthermore, you cannot know what will happen in the future. Even I can't. It is why life is exciting. It is why we yearn for tomorrow."

"But you- you said it yourself! Now the only man left in my life is... you... Ah... ah. I always get the short end of the stick, it seems..."

"Who said it was a bad thing?"

Before she could even get a surprised expression on her face, his arms hold her tight. Tighter than she has been hugged for years. And again, so familiar...

She could feel his heartbeat, which was the only proof she had that this miraculous phantom thief was an actual human being and not a robot programmed to steal. His warmth, quickly spreading on her skin, somehow comforted her. The tears weren't heavily falling on the ground, now. She had a shoulder to cry upon.

"Nobody can see the beautiful rose you've blossomed into, can they?"

She did not answer. He simply raised his head, looked at her right in the eyes.

It was as if the blue shade of his irises could penetrate the darkness of anything the world could offer, even her own shadow. It felt like she could abandon herself to him without the slightest fear.

"But I can."

Her sapphire-alike eyes had the reflection of the full moon upon them, and the tears made them sparkled like legendary jewels. A sweet wind made her uniform and hair flutter along with his cape.

When his firm lips met hers on this strange night, she neither had the strenght or the desire to push him away anymore.

~

"OUCH! It hurts!"

The big bump on Aoko's head was the proof of a troublesome wake up. How did she manage to hit the wall in her sleep?! She touched her forehead, a slight tear of pain stuck in her eye.

"I was in the middle of a dream here!"

She freezed. The white suit of Kid's appeared in her memory.

A dream. A dream.

It was nothing but a dream! She put a hand on her heart, sighting in pure relief.

"Oh, thank God!"

Everything made perfect sense, now. For the love of God, she did NOT kiss Kid in the most illogical way, she did not cry upon his shoulder: it was nothing but merely a trick made up by her unconscient!

"That was why he looked so much like..."

She suddenly remembered. Everything was not a creation of her mind. Yesterday... she...

She could see it so easily. Her and Kaito, on the way home. Her, with her confused words, her freezing body, trying to confess to this boy with whom she had shared most of the sweetest childhood that could ever be. Him, not understanding. Denying.

Rejecting.

_I'm sorry, Aoko. I can't answer..._

"...To your feelings."

The words died upon her trembling lips. Ah... so it did happened, didn't it? The memory of her running home, not even looking back at him, not even knowing if he tried to follow her, exploding in tears as soon as the door of her empty house was closed. Crying herself to sleep. Eventually falling into Morpheus' arms only because her mind could not take how desastrous and destroyed she felt.

Her unconscient just tried to comfort her. It appeared crystal clear to her now.

"Ah... I really am... pathetic."

 


	3. Bisou Magique

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will the childish Aoko do when she finds a kid's dear doll that bears the face of a certain annoying thief?

A toy is often way more than painted plastic, knitted wool, a gift for the sake of offering something for a birthday -whatever that present is.  
It is an object carrying memories, feelings, fragments of lives within its inner fibre. It may be the link to long forgotten childish frustration, pain, hatred -but more often it simply bears sweet nostalgia, along with the tender warmth of parents' arms and the flavour of ingenuine love. A naive, innocent kind of love and natural gentleness.  
  
However, something even rarer may happen: these two opposite impressions assemble in a conflicted ying-yang when in front of a plushie, a doll, a figurine. Can you even remember getting it? Did you like it? Did you hate it? What was the emotion back then when it was in your tiny chubby hands as a child? A limit so subtle, it is impossible to know. Only complexity fills your heart, and yet you can't resign yourself to throw it, as a mystery too dear to you to let go.   
  
Well, on this gloomy, rainy day of June, this strange riddle made Aoko blink twice when this lonely doll appeared in the corner of her eye.  
It was on the path home from school. It was pouring so well that the river was on the verge of flooding its sides. Despite the protection Aoko's umbrella offered her, her feet were soaking wet at every step she took, and a fresh wind blew her hair, made its way to her neck and chest. She wished for a split second not to catch a cold -and instantly the Kaito in her mind, since he wasn't there ( _I have something to do_ , and all that stuff), repeated this stupid sentence: Idiots don't catch cold, you should be safe.   
  
In a sting of annoyance, she filled up her cheeks with a puff of air and slowly started hopping over the small puddles that came her way. One, two, three... Jump!  
She could feel the mud all over her shoes, the water infiltrating her high socks, and all with it, a childish satisfaction.  
“See if I catch a cold! Not only you’ll see I’m no idiot, but you’ll have to go all the way to hand me the homework, stupid!”  
Three, two, one… Splash!  
Splash. Splash?

She frowned. She landed perfectly. Her feet weren’t even near the puddle. What could have…  
The answer lied miserably, face against the ground, in the filthy water.  
_A doll?_

With round eyes, Aoko plunged both her hands, the umbrella handle resting on her neck. Carefully, she saved the doll from drowning -since it was more like a plushie than a plastic doll, entirely made of wool and cotton, it would not have last long before it’d be ruined. She heavily lifted it up in the air as a disgusting mix of dirt, liquids and dust trickled on the ground from the fabric. She grimaced.  
_Did it fall off the barrier?_

Her pupils gazed for a split second at the nearest pole before coming back to the poor victim. Had it been forgotten by a child? More likely, yet on the back of the doll (which probably was white in better days, but that now was greyish and brownish because of its misadventures) there was no name written. Neither on a tag, nor on or under its clothes. Now, on the other side…

A monocle with a clover on it. A top hat; what used to be a blue ribbon tied to it. A red, sticky tie on a blue drenched shirt. White gloves, jacket, pant, cape. And worst of all… this enormous smile he was so proud of and that irritated her the most.  
“YOU AGAIN?”

This spontaneously escaped her lips, and as if the toy were alive and aware of its terrible condition, its head tilted down as if sighting.  
_Ah… That’s right_ , she thought with stiff lips. _Keiko told me they started selling those recently. Really… Making dolls based on a criminal… What are they thinking?_

Nevertheless, after a precise examination, it looked more handmade than manufactured. More than the absence of ‘Made in China’ mark, its messed up stitches, its cotton filling unequally distributed in its members, and its enormous head going back and forward as if it silently chuckled made it obvious that it had been fabricated with bare unexperimented hands -a personal gift to make a child happy, with their own unique doll of their real life hero.

How could such a precious thing have been abandoned? It was, for sure, accidental. She could imagine it so easily -the kid falling asleep in their stroller, the parents simply forgetting it on the ground, going home without even noticing the disappearance. Another person probably saw it, and with good intentions, put it on the pole so if the child came back, it’d be noticed in an eyeblink. But now it was here -in her own hands.  
The storm was near. The thunder menacingly threatening above them -and the rain atrociously pounding on her umbrella.

Wherever Aoko looked at, there was no sign of a single child, or any being at all. If the doll stayed any longer, it would be soon barely recognizable sharps and perhaps even drawn by the river…

_Don’t cry, Aoko dear. Mommy will sew back Dolly’s dress in no time, as good as new! If it’s important to you, it is for me as well._

“…”  
Between her uniform and her coat, she safely kept ‘Kid Junior’ before the floppy sound of her footsteps continued resonating on the muddy path. A shiver ran through her spine as cold humidity spread on her shirt.  
The memory of her mother was immediately followed by the pained face of a man who protected her, though they barely knew another. However, the one’s he had borrowed the traits of on that strange day… he, too, was the link of a thousand childhood remembrances.

Aoko anxiously swallowed.  
“Don’t let me be misunderstood, Kid. I’m not doing this for you, but for the child that happens to admire you…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was destined to be much longer, but I didn't have the energy to finish it, that's why the title (which means 'Magic Kiss') seems irrelevant. It was supposed to make sense later in the text, I left it as it was.  
> Don't know if it exists in Anglo-saxon or Japanese culture (it probably does), but a 'bisou magique' is just a kiss you give to children when they hurt themselves to ease their pain. I kept it in French because it apparently has a sexual meaning in English, which is a big NO-NO when you write about childhood and kids.  
> I'll leave the rest to your imagination on what was supposed to happen next.


End file.
